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Suffering is a problem addressed by many world religions. This paper examines the understanding of suffering in three religions: Catholic Christianity, Shia Islam, and Shakta Hinduism. In each of these cases, ordinary suffering is transformed into mystical sorrow, becoming a path to closeness and divine union. This transformation makes use of religious symbolism of the family, emphasizing the role of the mother. Worldly suffering is no longer meaningless; instead, it becomes a spiritual path through which the individual person, and even the world at large, may be redeemed.

The theme of suffering is intimately tied to the possibilities of the blood as redemptive in theology. Potentially considered a universal pathway to salvation and racial transcendence for people of African descent, “Da Blood of Shesus” asks: Is there redeeming power in the blood for people of African descent? Turning to Womanist and lyrical theologians to postulate an African theological framework which explores redemptive suffering not glorified as inevitable and intricate to the historical Black experience and the church. Lyrical theologians affirm Jesus’ redemptive power of the blood in Hip Hop portraying the ways in which the cross reveals the attributes of God. Womanist theologians challenge the “classical” interpretation of redemptive suffering, illuminating the ways it contributes to Black oppression and wretchedness. Arguably, Womanist and lyrical theologians conjointly point towards liberatory and alternatives to examine redemptive suffering for people of African descent by offering sites to scrutinize and nuance the blood as an indispensable pathway to redemption. An African theological perspective decenters the logics of anti-Blackness proposing suffering is inevitable to Black life and the historical Black experience.

Catholic Literature and Film: Incarnational Love and Suffering is meant to be considered as a work of literary criticism, not film adaptation studies. In it, the author explores six literary works dealing with Catholic themes and the film versions of these works. The discussion of the films is at the service of analyzing the texts. Underlying all the discussions is an incarnational, sacramental view of the texts, which links to my interpretation of the film versions of them. Catholic and actually any Christian interpretation of literature or film or any other art form is rooted in an iconic and sacramental understanding of imagery as a means of conveying the sacred. Catholic spirituality lends itself to this sort of approach, as it is deeply rooted in the ability to see sacred things through physical means. A key sub-theme is romantic love in connection with salvation, which Charles Williams, one of the “Inklings” (the group of British writers, including J.R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, who met and discussed literature and theology), calls “the theology of romantic love,” as well as the sub-themes of redemptive suffering, and grace. My interest in the book is not an analysis of cinematography, per se, but on the films as vehicles for religious ideas. What makes this approach unique is that it doesn’t deal with only faith and film, as Peter Frazer does very well in his book Images of the Passion: The Sacramental Mode in Film, for example, it also goes beyond the realm of strict literary criticism in its tackling of how religiously oriented works of literature are affected by the transformation into film.

While Christianity proclaims Jesus Christ’s suffering is salvific, the Roman Catholic tradition upholds that human suffering, distinct from Christ’s, is also redemptive in that it is united with Christ’s suffering. This belief is difficult to comprehend, yet scientific findings may offer insight, thereby leading to more fruitful dialogue related to, and understanding of, this tradition. Catholic tradition consistently suggests that one’s own suffering is not only spiritually redemptive but also integral to intrapersonal as well as communal growth, with love proposed as the source of such fruitfulness. Contemporary psychological and neuroscientific findings support such beliefs. Suffering, for example, can foster a reorientation of one’s values, with perceived meaning as a pathway to such growth. Shared suffering also leads to communal growth, such as by eliciting more prosocial behavior. Such findings contribute to an understanding of the theological belief in redemptive suffering, thereby paving the way for mutuality among individuals across belief systems.

Humans live by experiencing various types of sufferings, directly or indirectly. For this reason, it is evident that one of the topics of great interest in congregations is the question of suffering. This study aims to present redemptive-historical narrative preaching as a homiletical strategy for preaching on suffering. Redemptive-historical narrative preaching can be a homiletical alternative for preaching on suffering because it improves the weaknesses of the traditional homiletic and new homiletic and further develops their strengths. In this study, we will identify the main problems of preaching on suffering in Korean churches. Then, we will discuss redemptive-historical preaching and narrative preaching, which form the foundation of redemptive-historical narrative preaching. Finally, we will propose and explain the redemptive-historical narrative preaching in detail and why it is suitable to respond to contexts of suffering within congregations. Contribution Redemptive-historical narrative preaching has greater significance, not only in terms of overcoming the limitations of redemptive-historical preaching and narrative preaching but also in maximising the advantages of both. This research would contribute to the field of homiletics of the Hervormde Teologiese Studies journal.

Christian martyrdom made faith visible through the suffering of the body; how exactly this was understood theologically is as varied as the texts that record and discuss the martyrdoms themselves. This essay surveys a number of themes in the plot of the martyrdom narrative: martyrdom as establishing Christian identity; ideas relating to the imitation of or participation in Christ's suffering and passion, including imagery around sacrifice and how far the death of the martyr is expiatory, as Christ's was understood to be; the achievement of the martyr, such as the defeat of Satan, the conversion of onlookers; and finally, the martyr's destiny after death: glory and judgment. Emotional bonds of loyalty and love for God and for their fellow believers power their endurance, but the theologies of martyrdom are as varied as the accounts themselves.

Ch. Duquoc développe une critique du messianisme comme utopie imaginaire et source de nouvelles violences possibles dans l'histoire. Cette interprétation suppose que le titre « Christ » n'aurait plus le même sens que le titre « Messie » ; cela marquerait une rupture entre la pratique messianique de Jésus avant Pâques (que Ch. Duquoc reconnaît) et son destin postpascal et rendrait difficile un dialogue constructif avec le judaïsme. Elle réduirait trop le messianisme à une dimension politique ou utopique au détriment de son sens originel : la rédemption de l'histoire de la souffrance (W. Benjamin) et le salut de ce qui est perdu (au-delà de la dénonciation de la violence chez R. Girard). La « discrétion de Dieu » est inséparable de sa révélation comme accomplissement messianique et communion trinitaire. Ch. Duquoc criticizes messianism as imaginary utopia and a risk of producing new violence in history. This interpretation supposes that the « Christ » title no longer has the same meaning as the Messiah title ; that would signify a break between the messianic acts and practices of Jesus before Easter and his destiny after the Resurrection and would make a constructive dialogue with Judaism difficult. It reduces messianism to a political or utopical dimension at the cost of his original meaning which precisely challenges the historical violence : the redemption of the history of suffering (W. Benjamin) and the salvation of what was lost (this goes beyond the denunciation of violence by R. Girard). « God's discretion » in history is linked to his revelation as messianic fulfillment and trinitarian communion.